Rubber heel



Sept. 1, 1931. BRADLEY I 1,821,878

RUBBER HEEL Filed June 12, 1930 a '/////////I4 Ill/A I7/A fwveniok y Z3 dimes F Brad/g1;

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Patented Sept. 1, 1931- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JAMES F. BRADLEY, OF STAFFORD SPRINGS, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR OF CHE-HALF TO VICTOR J. IBISSONNETTE OF STAFFORD SPRINGS, CONNECTICUT RUBBER HEEL,

Application filed Iune12, 1980. Serial No. 460,685.

This invention has to do broadly with heel constructions used in footwear, and is more particularly concerned with a novel.

10 detachably affixing them to the heel portionof the sole. This feature of detachability of the heels has the advantage of permitting the wearer of apairofshoes to interchange r. "the heels of one shoe with those of the 16 other, whereby the heels would be, worn which is to be contrasted to the very common condition of heels becoming worn more .on one sidethan on the other. a

In. carrying out the above noted thought in a practical embodiment, certain conditions arise which must be taken care of in order to provide a product which might prove commercially successful. In the first place, it is necessary to provide good anchorage means for the detachable connection in the rubber heel. The latter is of a material which is'necessarily resilient and yielding, and which does not readilyle'nd ing it to the heel portion of the sole.

y In accordance with this invention, a

metallic plate is embedded in the rubber heel' in a novel manner, and this plate is the detachable connection. A particular feature of the invention is associated with the manner in which the-plate is'embedded in the rubber heel; The edges of the former are serrated, while the body p'ortionis perforated so that the material of the rub ber heel will extend through the perforations and into the serrations, whereby the plate isrthoroughly embedded in the heel and rigidly held in position therein. The edges of the plate, preferably, stop short of the periphery of the rubber heel. Inasmuch as quick detachability necessarily implies the use of 'a very few con- 'necting members, I propose to avail of only itself to the thought of detachably connectavailed of as a sortof anchoring plate for two screw members for establishing the connection between the heel and the heel por' tion of the sole. screw members is a metallic plate which projects upwardly from the heel "portion of the 'sole, and which is received in a rubber recess in the heel. Screw members extend through Associated with these two openings in the metallic" plate embeddedin the heel and have their ends/threaded in the upraised"plate on the leather heel portion of the sole. r

Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out more in detail hereinafter. I

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the appended claim.

For a full and more complete understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the following description and accompanymg drawings, wherein:

Figural is a perspective view developing a shoe w th my novel heel applied thereto. In this view certain parts are broken away and shown'in section, to more clearly bring out the detailed construction of the heel.

Figure 2 is a section through the heeL-and is taken about on the plane represented by the line 2+2 of Figure 5. Figure 3 is a horizontal section through one of the novel heels, and is taken about on the plane represented by the line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a section taken about on the same plane as the showing of Figure 2, and

showing the heel as connected to the leather heel portion of the sole.

Figure 5. is a plan v1ew of the rubber heel, and Y Figure 6 is a bottom plan view of the rear portion of a shoe, with the heel omitted.

Referring now to the drawings, a conventional piece of footwear, such as a mans shoe, is designated A. The rear or heel portion of this shoe may include a leather member referred to as 10. While the rubber heel is here described as being associated with" the leather heel portion of the sole, it is It is fastened to theexposed surface of the heel 10 in any preferred manner, such as by the pegs, as shown'at 12.

A rubber heel isreferred to as 13, and may be of any suitable rubber composition. It isalso to be understood that while the present invention is described as being peculiarly adapted for use with rubber heels,-

1t is also susceptible of use with leather heels. The same advantages attending detachable heels are exhibited when this feature is availed of in conjunction with leather heels, as well as when used in association with rubberheels. However, the use. of the latter is becomingmore widespread'than is the use of leather heels, and the invention is accordingly here described as being associated with a rubber heel. Embedded in the rubber heel 13.is a metallic plate 14, having a serrated edge indicatedat 15. The latteredge stopsshort a slight distance, say about one-eighth of an inoh,from the periphery of the rubber heel 13, and the material of the latter extends into the serrations of the serrated edge, The plate 14 may also be provided with a plurality of openings or perforations 16, through which the material of the rubber heel also extends; The arrangement of the serrations 15 and the openings 16 provides for a rigid and positive anchoring 0f the metal plate 14 in the rubber heel 13. This metallic plate 14: is

also provided with a pair of openings 17 for a purposeto be hereinafter described.

The heel 13 is provided with 'a recess des ignated 18 which is complemental to the metallic plate 11, and is designed to receive the latter. The bottom of this recess may be defined by the rubber material of' the 10, with the plate 11 fitting into the recess 18. A pair of screw members desi nated heel in a construction such as shown in Figplate 14, as shown in Figure 4.

The metallic plate 11 is also provided with a pair ofthreaded openings 19 which are opposite the openings 17 in the, plate 14: when the heel 13 is positioned on the heel 20 extend through the openings 1 and have their ends threaded into. the openings 19 to establishthe connection betweenthe heel.13 and the heel 10. Interposed between the heads 21 of the screw members 20 and the 1netallic plate 14 there may be positioned spring washers 22, shown in Figure 2. These spring washers serve as a sort of lock meansfor preventing'rotation of the screw members 20 to insure against accidental unscrewing of these screw -members 20. As.

shown in the drawings, the rubber heels 13 are provided with a; pair of openings 23 which receive the washers 22 and the screw 18. Two screw, members 20'a1e then threaded into the plate 11,. with the heads 21 tightly clamped against the washers 22, whereby a rigid-and positive connection of the heel is insured. When it is'desired to interchange the heel on the right shoe with the heel on the left shoe of a pair, the heels may be quickly detached for this purpose by unscrewing the screw members 20 and positioning them on the pro er shoes, as above described. The detacha le heel of the present invention is also adapted to be secured to the lift of a shoe.

It is evident that in the foregoing con,- struction simplicity as to design, as well as detaching and attaching operations, has been attained to'a very high degree. Moreover, the heel construction is easily manufactured and susceptible for use with a conventional type of shoe now on the market or in use by the public. All thatis necessary to use my invention is to apply one of the metallic plates to the heel portion of a sole, whereupon the invention ma y be practiced as herein described.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many a parently widely different embodiments of tliis invention could be made without departin from the scope thereof, it is. intended t at all matter contained in the above description or shown in the-accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a.

limiting sense. ure 2, or it may be defined by the metallic It. is a'lso to be understood that the langauge "used in the following claim is intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of-language, might be said to fall therebetween.

What is 'claimed is:

In aheel construction'for a shoe, a detachable heel, 'a plate embedded in said detachable heel and having a portion of its upper surface exposed, a fiat plate secured to the shoe and contacting with the exposed surface of the first plate when the detachable heel is in place on the shoe, said first plate having openings therein, said flat plate having screw threaded openings therein lying Within the fiat surfaces of the fiat plate, and screw members passing through the openings in the first plate and threaded 5 into the openings in the flat plate but terminating substantially flush with the inner surface of the flat plate.

JAMES F. BRADLEY. 

